The Three Largest Cryptocurrencies - Wednesday, Feb. 27

With so much focus on bitcoin lately, we've added a new weekly update that tracks the three largest cryptocurrencies by market share: bitcoin, Ether, and Ripple. According to Wikipedia, a cryptocurrency is "a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses cryptography to secure its transactions, to control the creation of additional units, and to verify the transfer of assets."

Bitcoin is the world's first cryptocurrency and decentralized digital currency. The first bitcoin transaction occurred in early 2009 and has since grown worldwide. Ether is another cryptocurrency run on the Ethereum blockchain platform and has the second largest market share, despite being the newest of the three with its launch in July 2015. The third largest market share of cryptocurrency, XRP, is owned by Ripple and launched in 2012.

Here are all three cryptocurrency prices over time along with their trading volume. Data for all three is sourced from Coinbase.com and by request, we have shortened the time frame for a more recent picture.

(Click on image to enlarge)

(Click on image to enlarge)

(Click on image to enlarge)

We have also created an index in order to chart these together given their very different pricing history. Notice that Ether tops the chart - the price of an ether has changed the most out of all three cryptocurrencies.

(Click on image to enlarge)

How did you like this article? Let us know so we can better customize your reading experience.
Users' ratings are only visible to themselves.

Jill has been working with Advisor Perspectives since 2012 and in 2015 joined the dshort team as Research Director. She considers herself a Gen X’er and has a background in mathematics and ...
more

Jill has been working with Advisor Perspectives since 2012 and in 2015 joined the dshort team as Research Director. She considers herself a Gen X’er and has a background in mathematics and science. She holds a Master of Science in Physical Science with a concentration in physics and astronomy from the University of Chicago. Jill spent a number of years working in both academia and nonprofits, from research in space science to playing a major role in a start-up science outreach organization.

After years in science, Jill shifted her focus to finance and economics. She is interested in economic trends and market reactions, and how domestic and international economies integrate, interact, and influence the world’s markets.

When not analyzing financial and economic data, Jill enjoys running, traveling, and cooking for family and friends.